Thursday, October 20, 2016

Unlike the Southern parts ofIndia,Delhihas seen much of occupation
and wars. By some accountsDelhiis known to have been
continuously inhabited since 6th century BC ~ and in most of its history, it
has been the capital of many kingdoms, starting from the days of Pandavas when
it was Indraprastha. In AD 1639, the Mughal emperor Shahjahan built
a new walled city inDelhiwhich served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 which was
later captured by British. The Feroz Shah Kotla is a fortress built by
Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq to house his version ofDelhicity called Ferozabad. It was
the new capital of the Sultan of Delhi on the banks of Yamuna river.
History states that most classical music performances were staged here.

Kotla ground is different ~ mostly no music to bowlers –
reportedly smaller where batsmen make merry. The Feroz Shah Kotla Ground
was established as a cricket ground in colonial days of 1883. It is the second
oldest international cricket stadium still functional inIndia, only after theEdenGardensin Kolkata

In a normal Indian
season, this ODI would have been played on Wednesday and not Thursday, but it was postponed to accommodate the festival of Karva
Chauth. This is festival season in India; the Kolkata Test was advanced to
avoid a clash with Durga Puja and Diwali, one of the biggest pan-Indian
festivals, takes place during the ODI series. For India, the festivities seem
to have extended to the field - they have beaten New Zealand in all four
matches of the tour, the Dharamsala ODI being the latest. But it is easier to
recover from a loss in ODIs than it is in Tests, even a comprehensive one. For today
match too, illness keeps Suresh Raina out.

Remember New
Zealand played so well in the last World Cup and were the runners-up. India played NZ
first in inaugural World Cup in ODI no. 28 – and lost the match.It was a 60 overs a side match on 14th
June 1975 at Manchester.Abid Ali made
70 and his grand partnership with Srinivasa Venkatraghavan (26) gave some
respect to the total, after the first six batsmen had gone for 101 runs in face
of accurate but by no means hostile pace bowling by the Hadlee brothers, Dayle
and Richard. Chasing 231, mammoth those days, New Zealand won rather comfortably
with a superb century by their captain, Glenn
Turner, who batted stylishly and productively for three hours. He hit thirteen
boundaries and remained unbeaten for 114.

The next One dayer
was at Lancaster Park, Christchurch in Feb 1976. In the 35 overs match, helped by Gundappa
Viswanath’s 56, India made 154. Richard
Collinge took 5 for 22. NZ knocked off
the required runs losing G Edwards (42); Glenn Turner (53) and Bevan Congdon 45
remained not out.

Virupa is a
smasher and continues to be so entertaining after his retirement also. One of his tweets after Ashwin’s great
performance at Holkar, read Congrats, Only a married man can understand d
urgency of going home early.. Ash quickly thanked him. The casual exchange took a hilarious turn
when Ashwin's better half, Prithi Ashwin tweeted - hahaha I didn't do much :) – and Viru's wife Aarti Sehwag joined the party : Neither did I. Both in a hurry as always ..